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The Metanet, and the Bitcoin SV (BSV) blockchain that powers it, have been promised to bring a new age of social media to the world. New platforms will be free of trolls, and provide financial incentive to users to create good content that others are willing to pay to see. Twetch is making that dream a reality.
Twetch launched its private beta in late May, 2019, and has attracted several thousand users at the time of publication. That’s an impressive feat, considering joining the site right now requires a user to join a waiting list, or to get privately invited by the site’s developers. And unlike other social media startups that quickly become ghost towns, the users of Twetch are creating a vibrant community.
While it’s still under construction, Twetch already offers lots of features and functionality. Of course, just like other popular social media platforms, users can make posts, comment on the posts of others, follow their favorite content producers, and like posts to show their appreciation. Users can also search for posts or other users, monitor the latest posts of the day, and browse the top posts of any given time range.
What sets it apart and makes it an evolution of social media are the financial incentives tied to everything you do. Twetch accounts connect to a Money Button wallet, and other than browsing, nearly every action either consumes BSV, or pays the user for their contribution.
For example, creating text only posts, either new or as replies, costs $0.02 at the time of publication. Adding an image to that post increases the cost to $0.07. These fees are paid for by swiping a money button in a very quick and easy process. They also help deter trolls from posting nonsense, as fees will quickly pile up for someone just looking to create trouble.
But for those who create quality content that others appreciate, those fees become their payment. Liking a post costs $0.10, of which $0.09 goes to the content creator. Replies pay the creator $0.01.
That means that if a post gets even a single like, that pays for your last 4 posts. Making a post that starts a real conversation, with dozens of replies and likes, becomes a highly sought after thing.
There’s also a financial incentive in obtaining followers. Following someone else will cost you $0.10, but each follower you get earns you $0.08.
If all the money going back and forth ever gets to be too much to do the accounting for, and it did for me at one point, Twetch has a solution for that too. Visiting your own profile will reveal your total earnings on the site, and the notifications tab not only informs you of the latest activity you should be aware of, but also how much you’ve earned from it.
As a result, browsing the top twetches of any given day is a very different experience than reviewing the trending topics you might see on Twitter. Top posts cover a range of important topics, including BSV development, the latest news of the world, political and economic discussions, and of course, some fun memes.
There’s a couple of additional features too, if you feel like opting into them. For $1, users can active Dark Mode, a must have in 2019. There’s also Tweet from Twetch for $1, which will help you spread awareness of Twetch to the more classical variety of social media.
And of course, because every post is written to the BSV blockchain, there is the ability to review the transaction ID and block of each post.
I can’t urge you to go try Twetch right now, as it is still in a private beta. You’ll need to sign up and get on a waiting list for now, or wait for more developments from Twitter’s official Twetch account.
When it does launch though, I think you’ll find something special. They’ve already got an incredible platform, and they’re listening closely to their users to add new features all the time. While I was writing this review, they launched new features, including the ability to tag other users in posts.
Twetch is the future of social media, and it’s happening right now. And it’s the kind of future that’s only made possible by the massive scaling of the BSV blockchain. It’s not only creating the opportunity for the new business model of Twetch, but creating a whole new economic model for the users of social media, who now have a financial incentive to create worthwhile content to share with the world.